Hazards in Squamish

Risk: Moderate Landslides include a range of downhill earth movements, including slope failures, and rock falls. Landslides can be extremely destructive and are caused by a number of pre-existing and contributing factors including heavy rai... Read more

Risk: Low-Moderate Earthquakes may be described as “sudden movements of earth, caused by an abrupt release of strains that have accumulated over time along fault lines” (Coppola, 2011). Notably, many secondary hazards are triggered by e... Read more

Hazardous materials processing and storage accidents are common. Most HAZMAT events occur during road or rail transportation. Accidents at industrial sites occur from natural disasters, fire, human error, infrastructure deterioration and fa... Read more

Risk: Moderate-High Flood events can range in scale from minor to major. Minor events often present little threat to the public with minimal or no property damage. Major events can cause extensive damage or destruction to critical infrastru... Read more

Risk: High Debris flows are very fast-moving, liquefied landslides that carry soil and other debris including boulders, and vegetation. Debris flows are most often triggered during periods of intensive rainfall resulting in high soil satura... Read more

Risk: Moderate Located just south of Whistler, the Daisy Lake Dam, on the Cheakamus River, presents a catastrophic dam failure hazard to Squamish. Before flowing into Howe Sound, The Cheakamus River connects with the Squamish River which pa... Read more

Risk: Low The high vertical cliff at the Barrier has long been debated regarding its potential for catastrophic collapse. Large-scale collapse of The Barrier is also extremely unlikely, but could potentially block the Cheakamus River. A blo... Read more

Volcanic eruptions in Canada are a rare event. Though infrequent, volcanoes can be catastrophic enough to warrant serious attention (Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, 2010)”. A volcano is a vent in the crust of the Earth’s surf... Read more